Anthropomorphism in Aesop's Fables

Authors

Nasih Alam, North Dakota State UniversityFollow

Keywords

Aesop, animals, didactic, anthropomorphism, anthropocentrism.

Abstract

Generally, Aesop’s The Complete Fables is considered didactic for children. In my paper, I discuss how Aesop represents nonhumans in his fables and how they could negatively affect the psychology of children aged 7-12 if we as parents, teachers and legal guardians do not become conscious of its problematic didactic function. I show that most of the anthropomorphized animals in The Complete Fables have anthropocentric and provide environmentally harmful rhetorics. In order to keep the required length of paper in mind, I have limited myself to five tales from Aesop’s The Complete Fables, to show how and where the rhetoric of anthropocentrism and deforestation pervades the book, and how they could discourage children from becoming more empathetic towards nature and nonhumans. While analyzing the selections from Aesop’s The Complete Fables, I discover that the anthropomorphized animals, who are either mostly tortured or gagged to death, cause environmental ruination in the text. I conclude this paper with some recommendations for parents, legal guardians and primary school teachers to encourage them to help children understand that the cruelty towards nonhumans and ecology as depicted in Aesop’s The Complete Fables is unwarranted and reprehensible. My recommendations focus on the U.S. parents, legal guardians and primary school teachers. But my call for treating children, environment and nonhumans with love, respect and kindness echoes around all. I continue to encourage all to read Aesop’s The Complete Fables to children aged 7-12. I also request all the stakeholders of this paper to read children’s stories like Aesop’s fables from a post-anthropocentric viewpoint and think about ways to create an environmentally sustainable world for children and nonhumans.

Issue and Volume

Volume 16, Issue 2

BYU ScholarsArchive Citation

Alam, Nasih (2024) "Anthropomorphism in Aesop's Fables," Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism: Vol. 16: Iss. 2, Article 8.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/criterion/vol16/iss2/8